Changing Steps
by open hearts catch dreams
Summary: I wanted to change the story line a little from the point Mary tries to tell Joey it was her in the car park.Right after Brit and Bree ambush him.Imagine Bree didn't get to him and Mary said what she needed to. First attempt at this category. may do more


AN: okay I've seen this movie all the way through once in 10 minute segments, but this part just managed to call to me.

It is probably a little or fairly out of character, as I didn't wait to write it, but hopefully I'm somewhere on the right track

It is set from the moment Tammy convinces Mary to tell Joey it was her, the scene in the car park. Only I've changed it because I wasn't happy with how he did find out. Not that this is my favourite way, just one I prefer.

You never know, I may write another to have Joey find out about her another way...

enjoy! and constructive criticism on my interpretation of the characters is welcomed!

* * *

Mary couldn't believe she was actually going to do it. She'd made it this far, she was damned if she wouldn't at least say hi.

"Joey?"

He looked around, bored and a little devastated before he seemed to recognise her.

"Mary, right? You work for Domifreak?"

Mary felt a smile tug at her lips, "No. I mean yes. No-…I live there, but yes, I do stuff 'round the house."

Joey smiled in reply, "You had shrimp in your hair."

"I did," Mary nodded, relieved it wasn't nearly as awkward as she had been expecting.

"It was nice to see you again," he said, turning towards the car. He paused and spun back before Mary could say anything anyway.

"Sorry, did you want something?"

Mary bit her lip and breathed deep, "Don't freak out…but…it was me – her. I'm her. I danced with you."

Joey tipped his head back with a fed-up sigh.

"Right."

Mary let out the rush of breath, "Its okay that you don't believe me."

"And I haven't exactly got a test for you because somehow the songs got leaked."

This was news to Mary, "By who?"

Joey shrugged, "I don't know, but Brit listed all four off about fifteen minutes ago."

Mary closed her eyes in pain. She should have known better. Why would she leave something like that out where either of her step sisters could reach it?

Of course unless they had overheard her and Tammy there was no way they would have known it was her playlist they had to steal…

Either way she should have known better.

"Okay then…" she murmured, ready to leave.

Joey took pause. Even when he had crashed into her on his first day back, she had been different.

"Wait," he called after her. Mary stopped and turned back around. "I told Brit if she knew the songs and she really was her, dance with me first."

Mary felt her eyes widening.

He was going to ask the same thing of her.

He turned away from the car and walked to the back, folding his arms in contemplation, now.

"So you're telling me that you are who I danced with? Dance with me."

Mary swallowed. Could she dance with him when he could see her face?

She remembered Tammy back in the Pumpkin and stood to her resolve.

"When and where?" she asked.

Joey looked a little surprised, but was able to mask it quickly. He half smiled. She really was different, but he admired her willingness to stand up.

"Right here, right now."

Mary let her breath out in a rush for the second time. Students were milling around the school not far away, some grouped around cars and she was in perfect sight of all of them.

Dance in front of him, maybe. All these people was another thing entirely.

"I…I can't," she whispered, watching his face drop as his reluctant hope was extinguished.

"I figured," he replied curtly, turning for the car door again. Somehow it hurt more that *she* had lied to him.

"No," she insisted, following him and catching his sleeve almost hesitantly. "I-I'm just not used to people watching me. No one knows that I dance, except Tammy."

Joey looked around again, eyes flickering in hope.

"Forget about them," he answered simply, eyes flickering again in some faint recognition of her awkwardness.

Mary considered for a moment. This was one chance. She wouldn't get another. The chances she could stage it so he could find her dancing when she was alone were unlikely.

"Okay," she whispered, feeling a thrill of anticipation rush through ahead of a zing of fear. "Okay, I'll dance with you."

He nodded and helped her drop her bag to the tarmac and then led her to the parking aisle at the end of the car.

Mary vaguely hoped Tammy was getting a kick out of this.

Joey was giving her outs, she noticed. He manoeuvred them into place, putting his hands onto her first to give her an idea of the dance he was expecting, but Mary knew he would only be happy if it was the ruined dance of the ball. She felt herself fall into the dancing; correcting his hand on her waist from what she suspected was an intentional mistake and stepping up into his space as though she were moving in the red heels, not her converse sneakers.

She glanced up in time to see his eyes light up as he recognised her precise movements.

Ignoring the lack of a beat, the arched her right foot over the road surface, twisting her left ankle and forcing him back a step with her body.

"Someone watching our dance could have learnt that," Joey told her, remaining still.

Regardless, Mary noticed, he had called it 'our dance'.

She smiled lightly, "So dance with me."

She had gone this far, she may as well earn the ticket to hell she was sure to get when she got home.

Joey completed his move, twisting his body and was barely back in place when she arched her back up, flicking her leg and forcefully returning to position. She thanked her guardian angel at that point that she was well used to practicing in sweaters and tracksuit bottoms. Her hoodie and jeans did not inhibit her range of movement much and as they continued to dance they did not pose a problem.

Mary did not see her step sisters gobsmacked, envious faces; nor Natalia's scowl of outrage. She couldn't hear the gasps and anxious shuffling, or the one girl who burst into tears and ran away. She heard about all of them from Tammy later.

She danced. She gave herself to music that wasn't there, allowing herself to move in abandon with her partner feeling more free than she had since her mother's death so long ago.

In her head, the song began to end. She and Joey knew it and their movements slowed in synchronicity, as though the beat would drop with them. Moments later Mary dropped her stance, retracting herself from his arms.

She looked at the crowd, feeling a warm blush start up her cheeks at the same time she went cold. Her sisters and Natalia were absent but she could see Joey's friend Dustin leant on his car with a video camera, smiling into the screen and remaining silent for the benefit of the recording.

Mary shot to the corner of the car and slung her bag onto her shoulder. A glance at the crowd, many of the girls still scowling, and she located Tammy rushing back to the Pumpkin from her point.

"Wait," Joey called, managing to snag her arm. "I have something of yours."

"I have to go," Mary answered as quickly as she could, feeling the oppression of her classmates now that she was not dancing. "You know who I am now, return it later."

"Count on it," Joey called after her as Mary managed her break for solace.

"You go girl!" She heard Dustin whoop as she vanished between cars and slid into her seat in Tammy's car.

"Tell me I didn't just do that," Mary half laughed, half sobbed.

"You did," Tammy assured. Mary could tell her best friend was getting a kick out of this. "And boy you should have seen Brit, Bree and Natalia's faces!"

Mary felt her world fall apart again, "They saw?"

"The school saw," Tammy chanted gleefully. "You were amazing, totally keeping up and pushing him. He loved it; you could see it in his face."

"Yeah, it," Mary answered. "He loves to dance with me because I can. But I'm just not the kind of person who ends up with people like him."

Tammy knew it was useless to argue with her when she was this wired from being in front of such a crowd, "We'll see."

* * *

AN: that's it! not much but I didn't want to change everything that much. If I'm right the party comes next, so just imagine they have part of that conversation by the pool then - only without the realisation...

Hope it wasn't too ooc


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